Saturday, November 22, 2014

This week was a bit crazy, and unfortunately we couldn´t work as much as we had hoped, but we are ready to keep working and continue with our investigators this week! 
This week we did intercambios, and I worked With Hermana Duarte, who is from Buenos Aires and is heading home this next week. It was really fun, and we had a successful day. She is hilariousssss.... she was talking about how she is going to harass the missionaries that eat lunch at her house about all the rules because now she knows them all by heart. It was a funny funny day we had together. I love learning from the natives and learning how to be a better teacher. 
Also, we had a zone conference this week that was based on the conference talk by Elder Packer called The Reason for our Hope. I learned about how to better use the Atonement in my life, and how I can help the members continue working in the work of salvation! It was really spiritual and I learned so much. I forgot my journal or I would say more... haha oops!
We have Joana, our investigator of gold, who will be baptized this week, and she is doing AMAZING! We are so excited for her, and I feel really fortunate to be here to help her along in the way of the Lord. Please keep her in your prayers this week, because she is definitely feeling the power of the adversary these days. BUT, nonetheless is still super excited for her baptism and can´t wait to keep progressing. Future leader for suuurrree!!! Our other investigators, unfortunately, are not really progressing. The rest are kind of here and there with progression, but this week, we are really going to focus on helping them feel the spirit and accept a baptismal date.
 Also, this weekend  our whole zone got sick. I was in bed for most of Friday night and then most of Saturday. I am pretty sure the cause was food poisoning. It was terrible, but I am feeling much better today! Nothing worse than throwing up... haha but no worries! We are feeling much better (:
Also, last night we had an activity for all return missionaries in the stake. It was great. Not everyone came, but those that did, shared their experiences about the mission and all the things they learned. It was crazy to see how different everyone is, and where they are at now in their testimonies, all because of their missions. ALL YOUTH SHOULD SERVE MISSIONS!! It is so important, there is not another place or experience in the world that is like the mission. It is truly the university of life. 
This week we will be working hard, but I will also be a little bit bummed because one of my favorite holidays will be this week.. so, in honor of this holiday, I want to tell you all what I am thankful for (:
-The Atonement of Jesus Christ, without it, we are literally nothing. We wouldn´t be here. I am eternally grateful and indebted to my Savior Jesus Christ, and my father in heaven for allowing his only son to come to the earth and suffer and die for us. It is a gratifying feeling.
-Covenants. baptismal or temple, I am grateful because i can feel closer to my heavenly father and always have a way to make myself better, to eventually become like Them!
-the plan of salvation! Because of covenants and the plan of salvation, I know that I can live with my beloved family for eternity. Wow, this is the best promise ever. I have learned how much I truly appreciate you guys and all that you do for me in this time away.  I miss you all a ton, but i know that this is the best place for me right now.
-and muuuch more, but mostly for all the support i have received in my time here on the mission. thanks for the emails, the letters, the photos, the updates. I love hearing from you all and knowing that all is well (: Keep it up! It is definitely motivating for me to hear from you guys!!

Challenge of the week: Express your gratitude for what you have everyday!! We should do this all the time, but this week especially (:

much love and make sure to eat some good grub for me!! especially the pies and moms famous orange-cranberry sauce!! 
xoxo
Hermana Terry

Hermana Duarte!
Pday fun! haha Elder VAnDerkwerken is a goof.. such a great missionary! Cerro Catedral. It is a ski resort in Bariloche. For real, I am pretty sure that I was in Park City! or Snow bird... super crazy feeling.. haha
Hermana Llerenaaaaaa




the hermanas of bariloche and hermana lovell!!
llerena, phipps, duarte, me, lucic and valderas!

The best district. haha we are so much fun. Hnas: Llerena, Duarte, Phipps, meeee
Elderes Fisher, Van, Parke, and Gregory
Centro Civico! the wind was perfect with the flag.. and hermana llerena just could quite jump. haha she doesn´t have much strength.. pobrecita (; 

un poco mas tranquilo...‏

This week was a little bit more tranquilo in comparison to last week when we were trying to accomplish the standard... Not that we worked less, it´s just that we felt less pressure and stress. We are still seeing many fruits of our labors. 
One thing we are doing together as a district is a challenge/promise of 21 days of prayer and scripture reading for our investigators and people we want to start teaching. We started 11 days ago, and wow, we are already seeing blessings! The people whom we have on our list, a few of them have started progressing and a few of them we have actually made contact. It is amazing how much we receive from our Heavenly Father. I have a huge testimony of prayer, and I try everyday to make my prayers more meaningful and personal to create a better relationship with my Heavenly FAther. 
Hna Llerena and I get a long great, although it is very different to live with a Latina, who grew up with a different culture than me. It is fun to learn from her, and my spanish is so much better already. She is hyped on the work and has 13 months in the mission, so I am learning a bunch from her about how to be a better teacher and learn better spanish. It has been a fun 3 weeks so far, and I would love to stay here in Bariloche for one more transfer, but I know that our President doesn´t keep us in an area longer than 3 transfers... so I guess it is my time to go in about 3 weeks! 
I am learning so much. the mission is truly the university of Life. and we can´t learn these things in any other type of experience. 
Miracles happen everyday! This week at church, we had 3 investigators for all 3 hours of  meetings! Joana, who will be baptized on the 22nd, and Miguel and his son Jonatan, who is 8 and LOVED everything about church, especially singing. Kids are super awesome because they can feel the spirit a lot stronger and recognize the good things much easier. That is why Jesus invites us to come unto Him and be humbled as a little child. I am working on humbling myself more. Yesterday, a man asked me if I could see a difference in the way of living between here and where I live in the US. I didn´t say much, but the people here are definitely more humble and grateful for everything they have. I am learning a lot about this, and I have learned to appreciate a lot more about my life than I was expecting. Things like my home, the things you guys have provided for me as I have grown up, like a  good education and an emphasis to learn. My car, the technology that I had so easily at my finger tips... little things. But also big things, like I am more thankful for my body and the things it does for me. haha I am amazed everyday that I can walk miles and miles and not be ccompletely wrecked by the end of the day. (by the end of the week is a different story... haha P day is muuuuch needed, because my back hurts, yo! hahhh)

I love being a missionary and working here in Argentina. I learn too much to write... but the hand of our Heavenly Father is definitely present in our lives... if we let it be!! Challenge this week... Remember the goals you set at the new year?  yah, you better pull them out, wipe the dust off and get busy!! The year is ending, i can´t belive we are already in november!!! Try to do at least one of the goals you set for yourself this year. One of mine is read the book of mormon in spanish... it is hard, but guess what? the book is still TRUE!! No matter what language it is in (: i am just starting, so I have a lot to go, but I will definitely continue working on it (:

Also, sorry that I don´t have any pictures this week, because I forgot my thingy to plug in the computer. ooopps! 
Much love and blessings for all of you!!
xoxoxoxo
Hermana Terry

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Ian and THE STANDARD ACCOMPLISHED.

Wow, this week has been craaazzyyy! We have been working in snow and rain storms all of the days this week!! what the heck, i thought it was spring here? hahaha yah no, argentina is pulling some jokes on us, some really cold jokes yo. But all well, we ain´t scurred!!! We baptized our chicito Ian, and another 25 y.o. named Santino who is super hyped on the gospel. nothing is  better than sharing the gospel.
BUT, LOGRAMOS EL ESTANDARTE! Honestly, it was a blessing, because we worked worked worked and by the end of the Sunday, we were still short 3 fechas. And we were pretty down because we had already worked so hard on everything else. The hand of God is always present! We ran into two younger boys and spoke with them and shared a short message, and invited them to be baptized. They were very excited and willing to let us teach more about the gospel and interested to learn more about baptism. Then, the same thing happened again only 3 minutes after! We ran into a man and his mother. The same thing happened, but the mom didn´t accept a fecha because she wants to learn more, but the both of them were more than willing to listen and have us teach more. What a blessing!!!! If I have learned anything so far in my mission, it´s that God is always willing to help us as long as we are willing to help ourselves first. He is always listening and ready to give us a  little push in the right direction. Hermana Llerena and I have been working really well together. The weather was really crappy this week, it snowed and snowed and snowed. For this, it was a bit harder to get up and have desires to work, but we knew that we needed to continue with a lot of faith. We have already seen our fruits. Also, a goal of the mission is to find more people who can be leaders and find more families. Hermana Llerena and I have been focusing on this a lot in our personal and companionship study. And what do you know? This week, we found 3 families, and our other investigators and recent converts have A LOT of potential to be future leaders in the church. Miracles exist and they happen every day! I am so blessed to be serving here in Argentina and learn more everyday. 
I really appreciate all of your emails and support. I keep you guys in my prayers, even though I don´t have much time to write, I am always motived by my loved ones at home. SERVE OTHERS!!! That is the challenge this week. (: serve with love, without looking for a reward, and without being asked. Do somthing for someone you don´t like. Why? because you´ll feel a bit more love for them. haha I promise, I do that everyday as a missionary and i can really feel the power of love and service. (: <3
Missionary work is the best, and each of you can do it everyday!
xoxo
Hermana Terry

i saw hermana christensen this week!!! and we spoke in spanish.. haha hwhahaaat? I remember our good old days in provo UTTAHHHH. good times. love this chick.

This picture is literally perfect.. haha I love Ian, he is so much like my brothers. We play soccer in the house, and right now.. argentina is winning 7-3.. crap, i am working on it! hahah but he is a doof, love his guts and his whole family. I will die when I have to leave Bariloche. Familia Troncoso will always be in my heart. Hna Llerena and I, Maritza, Ian, Alan and Isis <3


BRRRrrrrrrrr.......

the first week.

Fam Bam...!

All is well here in Alto 1, we are still moving along, seeing many miracles. 
It is fun to have a new companion, Hermana Llerena from Peru. She is great, and we are already working well together. I have learned a lot from her this week, especially about how to be a better teacher. We are having a good time. She reminds me of a mix of Kaitlyn Williams and Mikki Vargas.. so we get along pretty well (:
We had a very busy week this week! and the work just continues. We had the marriage of Alan and Sabrina on Wednesday, it was super great. Lots of people were there, and it was cool to see how marriages work here in Argentina. We were in this little room with all their family and this lady telling them some laws and they had to sign this giant book where a bunch of others had signed. It was crazy, I have some videos, those will be cool to watch in the future. We ate so much asado, i think i gained 3 pounds worth of meat.. sick. hahaha but that´s all we ate all day, so I think we´ll be fine.... I will send some more pictures later because a member has a Nikon and his cameras turned out really great.
Then, we had the baptism of Sabrina on Saturday, which was also amazing, because her husband Alan was able to baptize her. What a miracle! I can´t explain my joy that I have for them, and how good it felt to see them both dressed in white, glowing because the spirit is strong in their countenances. It made all the stresses and confusion worth it. It was a blessing that we didn´t have any serious trials or setbacks this week as she prepared for her baptism. The only thing that happened was that they forgot to bring towels... oops, our bad. haha but everything still worked out great, no worries there. When she showed up on Saturday AND Sunday in a skirt, my heart was like "HOLLLAAAA!" haha she is tiny, like Mary.. and just the cutest. Their goal is to attend the temple in one year, and I am trying to talk them into waiting until December so i can be there when I leave from my mission (: That would be the sickest, eh?? (:(:(:
Not only are we seeing many miracles with investigators, but we have many promising referrals, and a lot of people are becoming reactivated. Not just individuals, but families are coming together here in Alto 1. I am learning a lot about the power of spouses that work together in the gospel, and how much the gospel really blesses families to work together and have unity in their homes. There is honestly nothing in this world that works better for families than the gospel. Yah, there are still tons of trials, nobodys life is easy. BUT, when I see families that work together in the gospel, nothing can bring them down, and they are truly more unified. For this, I will never let my family fall away from the gospel, I will do everything in my power to have a family faithful in the gospel. That is something that I have learned more about this week, and will continue to learn about while i am here...

I love the mission. I love being a missionary. There is nothing harder or more fulfulling than being a  missionary and learning about these people here. I love to serve others. My natural man is very lazy and selfish, I will be the first to admit it. And in the past, that has won... (which is why my dad says that I don´t like to work very hard.. haha) BUT, my spirit and my heart love to serve others. I love to help others learn and understand more about the gospel and how special they are. I would do anything for these people. Argentina has my heart, i hope that all of you will get to know someone from argentina someday... because, well... it is the best here (:(:(:
Continue moving forward, trying to be like Jesus, because inasmuch as we keep the commandments, we will prosper in the land, and we won´t be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

xoxo
Hermana Terry

a baptism!

Sabrina... and Alan... in white. my heart melted. It was the most magical moment ever. I can´t even explain my love for them! 
Pilar Guevara is the woman in the photo with us... she is the reason that all of this happened. She is the greatest woman ever!!

a wedding!


Alan and Sabrina... a family of gold. and now they are officially a family (: 



Transfers

What a rollercoaster week I have had here in Bariloche. It has been full of emotions, picture taking, teaching, visiting, and planning. We had a family night on Monday with one of our investigators. It was so much fun. We played a game called ¿Quién soy? where we cut out pictures of the Ensigns of random objects. The point of the game is to hold the photo above your head without looking at it, and ask yes/no questions until you figure out what you are. The theme was that we are children of God, and we have a lot of other callings in this life too. They have a 4 year old, and she loved it, she thought it was so much fun. There was a lot of laughter, and we could feel the spirit. I am super grateful to be here to work with the Troncoso family. We are planning their wedding, that will take place in the chapel this week, and then Sabrina will be baptized on Saturday! It is all very exciting. (: We also have two other investigators that are promising as well. Ian is 11 and will be baptized on the 1st of November. and we have Joana, who didn´t come to church this week, so her baptism date fell, but she is prepared, and her life has been a bit complicated these last two weeks, but she knows she needs to come, so we are working with her this week too. We have really been focusing on faith and the basic things we do - reading, praying and church attendance - as we teach. We have found that these are the things people forget about, and their faith eventually fades out. It has been working really well so far, so I hope to continue this focus while I serve here in Argentina. Sabrina is getting married on WEdnesday and then baptized on saturday!!! keep her in your prayers (:(:(:(:(:
We have transfers this week, and Hermana Hendry is headed to Roca... it has been a very emotional week. I am very sad to see her leave, we have really hit it off these past 3 months and have accomplished a lot together here in Alto 1. I am also excited to meet my new companion, Hermana Llerena and work with her here. I ain´t scurred! The work goes on, and all we need to do is show our faith. The mission is truly the university of life, and full of blessings and miracles, as long as we are doing what we are supposed to, God will use us to our fullest potential. Thanks for everything you guys do! Love you all so much!!

xoxo
Hermana Terry 

campanario! a picnic on the top of the Andes.. nbd.


the banner we made for sabrina and alan! supes cute, yah? (:

Monday, November 3, 2014

Milagros

What a week in Alto 1! It´s always like that here, we are doing so well and seeing so many miracles. The days pass so fast, I can´t believe we are in the last week of the transfer already. We have three investigators with a baptismal date, and they are all so ready, it´s definitely a blessing from the Lord, because we aren´t doing much besides visiting with them. They edify us each time we visit, because they have such powerful testimonies. It´s been a privilege to be here and work with these people so far. I am definitely being spoiled by the good Lord.
Sabrina is our little angel, literally prepared by the hands of God, floating on a cloud to her baptismal date in two weeks. I can´t even explain her. Her fiancee is a less active, but now active, and they are getting married on the 22nd of the month, then she is getting baptized on the 25th. They have the cuuutest 4 year old named Ali, and wow, I want to be as cute as them when i have a family. All I can say is that everytime we "teach" them, I learn something new. so... if that doesn´t explain it, I don´t know what will. haha
And Ian... he is 11 and the funniest little squirt I have ever met. He reminds me so much of my dweeb brothers, so it´s a blessing to work with him too. He is Alans little brother, and he is hyped on baptism. So smart. The first time we met him, he started rattling off Lesson 3- the gospel of jesus christ. Then, we told him to read 3 Nephi 11, and he has already read it.. hollllaaaaa! such a champ. He has a date for the 1 of November (: 
And our last little lady of the hour, Joana. She is the mom of an active 7 year old. She is also super prepared. When we asked her to be baptized on the 8th of November she said, "Wow, that is fast. I wanted to be baptized with  my daughter...... but, if I don´t do it, I will regret it." WHO SAYS THAT? wahhoooo! She is 24, and has two freaking cuuute daughters and is just a prime lady. if you could keep these three champs in your prayers, it would mean the world to me! (: 
Hermana Hendry is great. I am SO grateful to have her a companion. She is very smart and so in tune with the spirit. I have learned so much from her, and I wish that she could stay here in Bariloche with me until she finishes her mission next transfer. I hope to be as inspired as she is. It is something that I will work on throughout my mission. She is definitely a disciple of Christ, and knows it. We have had so many good experiences together. I am so blessed to be here in Bariloche working with her. This is probably our last week together, and after that, she only has one more transfer left. So, prepare to meet her, family! she said she wants to come by and visit you all (: 
Thank you for your prayers and love, it means the world to me. The mission is the best thing I have ever done, and I hope that the time slows down a bit, because I am going crazy! it´s going by too fast. 

xoxo
hermana Terry

sorry folks, i don´t have many pictures this week... 
i made cinnamon rolls last week, yuummm. haha

aand, its not even like there is a lot of dirt here... hahaha